Archive for the ‘SC Pottery’ Category

Hub City Empty Bowls 2018 marks 10 years of pottery bowl-making as a way to raise funds that feed hungry people in Spartanburg, SC, who are not sure where their next meal is coming from.

To celebrate 10 years of helping the public make thousands of hand-shaped pottery bowls and donating tens of thousands of dollars to local charity that provides food to the needy, the lead agency Carolina Clay Artists will add a special event to its lineup of activities. In addition to three bowl-making sessions and Soup Day, “10 Years of Filling Empty Bowls” will be a ticketed party on Friday, Sept. 28, 2018 at Indigo Hall in downtown Spartanburg. Patrons will purchase $50 advance tickets that will admit them to the event and will include first dibs on selecting pottery bowls (one bowl is included in the ticket price); beer, wine, and finger foods; and a silent auction. The event starts at 5:30pm and ends at 8pm.

Tickets can be purchased by calling Traci Kennedy at 864/585-9167, ext. 202 or e-mailing her at (Director@TotalMinistries.org).

“This is a special year, and we wanted to do something special to celebrate,” Hub City Empty Bowls 2018 Chair Bruce Bowyer said. “After nine years of doing this, we’ve noticed some things that people really like about Hub City Empty Bowls. They like the pottery bowls. They like looking at them and getting the ones they really want based on shape, color, and personality. They like being together. People really have a good time when they attend bowl-making sessions or Soup Day. They like coming together for a common cause. So, we are giving them another opportunity to enjoy what they like the most. The night before Soup Day, we’ll host this party for people who want the best selection of bowls and who want another reason to get together in their efforts to end local hunger. I think a good time will be had by all, and, of course, all of the money will be given to TOTAL Ministries, the local faith-based charity that provides food to local people in dire financial straits.”

In recent years, Hub City Empty Bowls as averaged donating about $33,000 a year to TOTAL Ministries, which now helps with the administration of the annual event, freeing members of Carolina Clay Artists to focus their efforts on actual pottery making.

“Carolina Clay Artists has filled many empty stomachs in Spartanburg in the past nine years,” TOTAL’s Director Traci Kennedy said. “So many people — not just the homeless but average people who have lost jobs or fallen on hard times — have been saved from the pangs of hunger because someone made a pottery bowl and someone else bought it. Hub City Empty Bowls is a grassroots effort that has struck a nerve in Spartanburg. It is much anticipated and much loved. It is a creative program, it is an inclusive program, it is an effective program. Look at it this way: a $20 pottery bowl produces about 100 pounds of food from the local food bank. One hundred pounds of food can feed a family of four for about a week.”

According to Feeding America, a leading national agency dedicated to stopping hunger, about 13.6 percent or 39,690 people in Spartanburg are “food insecure,” which is usually defined as people who aren’t sure if they will have their next meal. The State of South Carolina has a rate of 15.3 percent or 746,810 people out of the total population of 4,896,146, based on 2017 statistics.

“Spartanburg may not be the worst county in the state for food insecurity, but we certainly have a problem,” Kennedy said. “I see it every week as people who need help line up outside our doors.”

The first bowl-making session will be Saturday, June 16, 2018, at Spartanburg Art Museum (SAM), housed at Chapman Cultural Center. The morning session will be 10am to noon; the afternoon session will be 1-3pm. Anyone can attend, and there is no charge. All clay, studio space, and professional instruction are donated. This is an excellent family event.

The second bowl-making session will be Saturday, July 7, 2018, at West Main Artists Co-op, from 1-4pm. The third and final bowl-making session will be Saturday, July 14, at SAM, from 10am-noon and 1-3pm.

Soup Day will be Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018, from 11am-4pm at Indigo Hall. Hundreds of finished pottery bowls will be on display and available for purchase/donation at $20 each. Included in the day’s activities will be about two dozen gourmet soups donated by local restaurants. The meal will include tea, water, and bread. Also, there will be live music.

“Bowl making is the creative part of Hub City Empty Bowl,” Bowyer said. “Individuals and families come to experience pottery or to scratch a creative itch. Soup Day is when it all comes together. I’ve seen people get a dozen or more bowls at a time. They use them for Christmas gifts, and I know of one lady who gets them to be used at her Thanksgiving meal. Then they all congregate to eat soup, listen to the music, and feel good about helping others. It really is one of Spartanburg’s most heartwarming events.”

Empty Bowls is an international phenomenon that uses art to fight hunger in local communities. It started in 1990, when Michigan high school art teacher John Hartom wanted to create an outreach program for his students to use art as a means to raise money that would be used to feed local citizens. From there, the concept spread globally, with each community tweaking the concept to fit its unique circumstances. Most communities engage local potters to help citizens make pottery bowls that are eventually sold at a public event, such Hub City Empty Bowls’s Soup Day. Other communities use different types of art and/or different fundraising events. There is no centralized authority: each community coordinates its program based on the original concept but individualizes it to suit its ways, means, and goals.

For more information about “10 Years of Filling Empty Bowls” or Hub City Empty Bowls, please visit online (www.HubCityEmptyBowls.com).

Hub City Empty Bowls – an annual fundraiser that uses handmade pottery bowls to feed hungry Spartanburg citizens – has set the 2017 dates for its well-attended events. There will be three regularly scheduled bowl-making events: Saturday, July 15, 2017, at 10am-noon and 1-3pm in Spartanburg Art Museum’s pottery studio at Chapman Cultural Center in Spartanburg, SC; Thursday, July 20, 2017, from 5-8pm at West Main Artists Co-Op, during ArtWalk; and Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017, at 10am-noon and 1-3pm at Chapman Cultural Center. Soup Day will be Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017, from 11am-4pm at Chapman Cultural Center. All events are free and family friendly.

Hub City Empty Bowls is a localized fundraiser inspired the international Empty Bowls decentralized program. Locally, the program’s spearhead Carolina Clay Artists coordinates public bowl-making sessions. At no charge, citizens of all ages are given supplies, tools, space, and instructions on how to make hand-shaped pottery bowls. Those unfinished bowls are left at the venue to be painted and fired by experienced potters. Bowls often made by children can be simple, primitive, and charming. Others made by experienced potters can be precise, intricate, and sophisticated.

With hundreds of bowls created by local citizens, Carolina Clay Artists then hosts Soup Day, an event where patrons receive the bowls – each for a $15 donation to TOTAL Ministries, a local charity that provides food and other resources to people in financial crisis. In addition to receiving bowls, the patrons can enjoy a meal of soup, bread, and tea donated by the community’s leading restaurants, hear live music, bid in a silent auction, and enjoy the fellowship and comradery of knowing they are helping to feed people in need. In 2016, the Carolina Clay Artists donated a record-breaking $33,000 to TOTAL Ministries.

“Coordinating Hub City Empty Bowls is a massive undertaking,” 2017 Chairman Bruce Bowyer said. “People want to know as soon as possible about our dates so they can plan accordingly. Some people come to all of the bowl-making sessions and Soup Day. Plus, by setting the dates early, we can better handle the large crowds of people who normally show up. It is not unusual for us to have several hundred people come to a bowl-making session. And come Soup Day, we’ll see more than a thousand.”

Despite the crowds, it is seldom anyone has to wait to make a bowl or enjoy Soup Day. Space, volunteers, and experience are plentiful enough to keep everyone engaged.

Carolina Clay Artists is a local group of hobbyist and professional potters who come together monthly to share ideas, hold workshops and demos, and tour pottery studios to see other artists’ work and learn new ideas. It is open to all who have an interest in learning and sharing about pottery. Annual dues are $35. Hub City Empty Bowls is the group’s annual charity fundraising event to help feed the hungry.

TOTAL Ministries got its start in 1982 as Project Eat. Founder Dannie Horne saw an unemployment rate of 9.7% and that many people in Spartanburg County were hungry. During the first 17 months of Project Eat’s existence, $190,000 of groceries were distributed in an effort to alleviate that problem. In 1983, TOTAL Ministries of Spartanburg County, Inc. was incorporated by 12 Spartanburg churches to carry on the work of Project Eat. Since then, additional emergency services have been added to the TOTAL mission in an effort to help those in need. For those in need, TOTAL can help with utility services, food, and medications.

Empty Bowls started in 1990 by Michigan art teacher John Hartom, who organized a charitable event to give his art students a way to make a personal difference in the lives of others in their community. Hartom’s students made pottery bowls in their high school art classes, and the finished products were then used as individual serving pieces for a fundraising meal of soup and bread. From that simple beginning, Empty Bowls has spread around the world, taking root in communities both small and large. Spartanburg had its first Empty Bowls program in 2009. All Empty Bowls efforts are locally based with all proceeds going to a local charity with a mission to alleviate hunger in its community. None of the money raised leaves the community. The lead agency, Carolina Clay Artists, donates all of its time and talents, and receives no monetary benefit. Locally, all proceeds go to TOTAL Ministries.

For more information about Hub City Empty Bowls, please visit online at (www.HubCityEmptyBowls.com) or call 864.706-3739 or 864/585-9167.

The first artist “outside” of North Carolina to be invited to participate in the annual Mint Museum Potters Market Invitational in Charlotte, NC, that is.

A major attraction for the Charlotte area, the Mint Museum will welcome more than 1,000 people at this year’s invitational, set for Sept. 12, 2015, from 10am-4pm at the Randolph location. The event will feature the work of Connell and 50 North Carolina potters as well as pottery demonstrations, food, live music and more. Tickets are $10 and include museum admission. Kids 12 and younger are free.

Work by Jim Connell

Though the invitational has featured only North Carolina potters for the last decade, organizers decided to expand and invite Connell to participate.

“It is indeed an honor to be picked,” he said. “I go to the invitational most every year and many of the participants are friends and colleagues I have known for years. It’s always fun to see what they are up to and of course to reconnect.

“We potters are a close and supporting group of people. I never thought I would be invited as this was started to just feature NC potters. This year they’ll get to see my work. It’s all about respect.”

Connell has worked in the ceramics medium for more than 30 years. His work has appeared in more than 500 exhibitions, with 15 of his pieces later acquisitioned for museums. In 2004, he traveled to China to study ceramics on an International Residence Award through the National Council on the Education for the Ceramic Arts.

He joined Winthrop’s faculty in 1987.

Presented by the Delhom Service League, a ceramics affiliate of The Mint Museum, the invitational helps fulfill the Delhom’s mission “to promote ceramic arts and education.” It’s raised more than $200,000 since it began in 2004.

There is something new and exciting in South Carolina – the 1st Annual South Carolina Clay Conference – Moving Clay Forward. The conference is sponsored by the City of Newberry PRT and will be held on Feb. 27 & 28 and Mar. 1, 2015 at the Newberry Arts Center in historic downtown Newberry, SC.

For this first SCCC, art program and conference organizer Marquerite F. Palmer has brought together presenters Sue Grier from Asheville, NC and Mike Vatalaro from Greenville, SC. With many years experience each, both potters will demonstrate their talents and techniques during the conference. The overriding theme for this year is Altered Vessels. Also during the weekend, the presenters will have their work for sale along with pieces from the conference attendees. The pottery sale will be open to the public on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 27 & 28. The Newberry Arts Center is located at 1107 College St., Newberry, SC 29108.

Work by Sue Grier

Work by Mike Vatalaro

Modeled after well-known clay conferences in North Carolina and Alabama, the conference will allow for presenters and attendees to be immersed in conversation on ‘all things clay’. Included will be a Friday evening reception and Saturday evening BBQ. Sunday morning, the conference will close with an informative lecture on a clay related topic. Professionals, educators, amateurs and students can all enjoy the creative atmosphere which this type of intimate gathering promotes.

Of the conference, Palmer says ”The City of Newberry Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department has put forth great efforts to create an art center that educates and nurtures the community and surrounding areas with visual art experiences for all ages. Newberry Arts Center – NAC – is thrilled to be hosting the first South Carolina Clay Conference. Instruction in pottery is a large part of our center. Newberry Arts Center is excited to be bringing clay artists together from all over South Carolina and beyond to help build a stronger clay community and move clay forward in South Carolina.”

The cost of attending the conference is $225 and some meals are included – the complete schedule should be firmed soon. The organizers have set up a block of rooms at the Hampton Inn in downtown Newberry with a double room at $89 a night including continental breakfast.

For more information and registration details, contact: Marquerite Palmer, Art Program Coordinator, at 803/321- 1015 or e-mail to (mpalmer@cityofnewberry.com).

There is something new and exciting in South Carolina – the 1st Annual South Carolina Clay Conference – Moving Clay Forward. The conference is sponsored by the City of Newberry PRT and will be held on Feb. 27 & 28 and Mar. 1, 2015 at the Newberry Arts Center in historic downtown Newberry, SC.

For this first SCCC, art program and conference organizer Marquerite F. Palmer has brought together presenters Sue Grier from Asheville, NC and Mike Vatalaro from Greenville, SC. With many years experience each, both potters will demonstrate their talents and techniques during the conference. The overriding theme for this year is Altered Vessels. Also during the weekend, the presenters will have their work for sale along with pieces from the conference attendees. The pottery sale will be open to the public on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 27 & 28. The Newberry Arts Center is located at 1107 College St., Newberry, SC 29108.

Work by Sue Grier

Work by Mike Vatalaro

Modeled after well-known clay conferences in North Carolina and Alabama, the conference will allow for presenters and attendees to be immersed in conversation on ‘all things clay’. Included will be a Friday evening reception and Saturday evening BBQ. Sunday morning, the conference will close with an informative lecture on a clay related topic. Professionals, educators, amateurs and students can all enjoy the creative atmosphere which this type of intimate gathering promotes.

Of the conference, Palmer says ”The City of Newberry Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department has put forth great efforts to create an art center that educates and nurtures the community and surrounding areas with visual art experiences for all ages. Newberry Arts Center – NAC – is thrilled to be hosting the first South Carolina Clay Conference. Instruction in pottery is a large part of our center. Newberry Arts Center is excited to be bringing clay artists together from all over South Carolina and beyond to help build a stronger clay community and move clay forward in South Carolina.”

The cost of attending the conference is $225 and some meals are included – the complete schedule should be firmed soon. The organizers have set up a block of rooms at the Hampton Inn in downtown Newberry with a double room at $89 a night including continental breakfast.

For more information and registration details, contact: Marquerite Palmer, Art Program Coordinator, at 803/321- 1015 or e-mail to (mpalmer@cityofnewberry.com).

Hub City Empty Bowls, a charity that raises money to feed local needy citizens, invites the public to Chapman Cultural Center in Spartanburg, SC, Saturday, July 19, 2014, to help feed the hungry by making clay bowls. There will be two opportunities this day for all ages and experience levels to drop by and make bowls: 10am ­- noon and 1 – 3­pm.

These bowls will later be painted, glazed, and fired, and then used on Soup Day, which will take place Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014, at Chapman. Soup Day is a day of food, music and charity, where the handmade bowls are filled with soup from local restaurants for a donation of $15. Patrons keep the bowls, as reminders of their participation in this charitable event. This year, the proceeds will benefit TOTAL Ministries, a charity assisting those in Spartanburg facing financial hardships.

All bowl-making events are free. This is the sixth year that Hub City Empty Bowls has participated in this international drive to feed the hungry. Last year, 1,400 bowls were made and more than $20,000 was raised locally. This year’s sponsors are Chapman Cultural Center, West Main Artists Co-Op, Spartanburg Art Museum, Spartanburg County Foundation, Action Printing, Carolina Clay Artists, and Chris Williams, owner of Clay-King.com.

After five months of coordinating the making of more than 1,400 handmade pottery bowls – made mostly by the untrained yet very enthusiastic general public – Hub City Empty Bowls is ready to serve soup and raise money on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013, 11am to 7:30pm.

“Soup Day is upon us, and I think we are ready,” Nancy Williamson, the project’s co-coordinator, said. “We have the bowls, we have the soup, we have the music, and we have the need. Now all we need is for the people to come out on Saturday, Nov. 9, to Chapman Cultural Center and enjoy the experience of eating gourmet soup, fellowship, and the moral reward of knowing that for $15 many of the needy, poor and hungry citizens of our community will have their next meal.”

All of the money raised at this annual event will go to TOTAL Ministries, a local charity that provides food to the community’s most impoverished citizens. Last year, Empty Bowls raised more than $12,000 for the Spartanburg Soup Kitchen.

Empty Bowls is a national social phenomenon where the potters in individual communities spearhead an effort to raise money for a local charity whose mission is to feed the hungry. With no oversight and little overhead, Carolina Clay Artists, an organization of local potters, organizes the event and coordinates several bowl-making sessions for the general public. Most of the bowls were made at the Spartanburg Art Museum School at Chapman Cultural Center and at West Main Artists Co-op, shaped by hand, rather than thrown on a wheel. The potters instruct the citizens on how to make the bowls, and the clay is provided at no charge. During the months of preparation, the bowls are painted and glazed.

In addition, professional potters, Carolina Clay Artists members, and Spartanburg Art Museum students and teachers have donated soup bowls for the event. Spartanburg School District 7 has donated bowls that were made from start to finished bowls by their teachers, Spartanburg High pottery students, and Jessie Boyd’s Art Club. Interspersed in the offering of very basic bowls the public can find some treasures. “There’s the feeling of a treasure hunt to the event,” Williamson said. “People look for special bowls, some made by professionals and some made by little children.”

On Soup Day, all of the colorful and various size bowls are brought out. For a $15 donation, a citizen can pick out his or her favorite bowl and have it filled with the soup of his choice. This year, there are about 20 restaurants providing soup. In addition, bread and iced tea will be provided. There will be an ongoing silent auction in the midst of the bowls and soup. “Soup Day is the most amazing experience,” Williamson said. “It is always one of those feel-good experiences. You have such a grassroots atmosphere of handmade bowls, top-quality soup, live music, and the fellowship of kindred souls all coming together to make Spartanburg a better place to live.”

“I’ve bought several bowls over the years,” supporter Steve Wong said. “Soup Day is great fun, but for me the best part is getting to keep the bowl. It never fails that when I go to my kitchen cabinet for a bowl, I always choose one from Empty Bowls. It just means something special. It’s a reminder of how lucky I am to have food to put in my bowl.”

In addition to the bowls, soup, and live music, a new element is being introduced to the Hub City Empty Bowl experience: drum circles. There will be two drum circles: one starts at 11am; the other starts at 5pm. Both will happen outdoors in the Chapman Cultural Center plaza. The public is invited to join the communal drum circles by bringing whatever percussion instrument available and adding sound to the rhythms that will be lead by experienced drum circle enthusiasts.

“We think having drum circles will be a great new thing for Soup Day,” Williamson said. “It seems like a natural pairing, both being so basic and in touch with nature. I kind of think of the drums as calling people to come join in.”

It is by the very nature of the Empty Bowls phenomenon that the bowl making, Soup Day, and fundraising are accomplished by many people working together for a common cause. “So much credit must be given to Carolina Clay Artists,” Williamson said. “They are the heart and soul of this project and Empty Bowls in Spartanburg would not happen without them. They secure the clay, the locations, the instruction: They basically do all of the heavy lifting and spend their weekends glazing, painting, washing and just doing whatever needs to be done. Others who need to be recognized are Spartanburg Art Museum’s Art School, Chapman Cultural Center, West Main Artist Co-op, and donors Chris Williams of Clay-King and Steve and Joanne Metcalf.”

The popular grassroots fundraiser that helps feed the hungry in Spartanburg, SC – Hub City Empty Bowls-is cranking up early for 2013. The first two bowl-making dates are Saturday, June 15, 2013, from 10am-noon and 1-3pm at the Spartanburg Art Museum School in the Chapman Cultural Center, and Thursday, June 20, 2013, 6-8:30pm at the West Main Artists Co-op in Spartanburg.

The goal of the organizing sponsor, Carolina Clay Artists, is to make more than 1,000 handmade clay bowls to be used on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013, when hundreds of people will donate cash in exchange for the colorful and creative bowls filled with soup donated by local restaurants. Everyone is encouraged to help make bowls. No experience in pottery is required. All materials and instruction will be provided free.

After four years of raising tens of thousands of dollars for different hunger-based charities in Spartanburg, the Carolina Clay Artists return for the fifth year determined to make the event even bigger and better. In the past, Empty Bowls has been about a three-month project. This year, it will run for five months in an effort to give citizens more opportunities to participate. It has been one of Spartanburg’s most successful events in helping feed the poor. The fundraiser – Soup Day – will be held in the lobby of the David W. Reid Theatre and in the plaza of Chapman Cultural Center on Saturday, Nov. 9, 11am-7pm. In addition to soup, bread and tea, live music, and fellowship are provided for a community event that generates a groundswell of grassroots charity, as well as much needed funds. Patrons especially enjoy taking home the clay bowls, as sentimental reminders of how they have contributed to Spartanburg’s advancement. Traditionally, patrons donate $15 per bowl. The soup is all you can eat, and there will be a variety of restaurants providing soup throughout the day.

Empty Bowls is an international phenomenon that is virtually administrative and overhead free. All work is done by local volunteers, most of whom are potters. All of the money raised stays in the local community. Last year, more than $12,000 was given to the Spartanburg Soup Kitchen. This year’s recipient of the funds will be TOTAL Ministries of Spartanburg. Public bowl-making events will be held at both the Spartanburg Art Museum School, located in Chapman Cultural Center, 200 East Saint John St. (10am-noon and 1-3pm) and the West Main Artist Co-op, 578 West Main Street (6-8:30pm).

Vista Studios in Columbia, SC, will present the Midlands Clay Arts Society’s 12th Annual Holiday Sale, on view in Gallery 80808, from Nov. 29 through Dec. 2, 2012. An opening reception will be held on Nov. 29, from 5-8pm.

The Midlands Clay Arts Society’s 12th Annual Holiday Sale features one-of-a-kind, handmade gifts by South Carolina based ceramic artists. It is a much anticipated opportunity to view and purchase unique, original, works of art, from whimsical sculptures to classic functional pieces, decorative accessories, and everything in between.

MCAS was organized in 1987 to foster fellowship, education and creativity among local potters and clay artists and to promote appreciation of all things made from clay.

If you would like more information about the sale, contact Adele Thornhill by e-mail at (adele@adelethornhill.com) or call 201/839-6386 or visit the MCAS Facebook page at (www.facebook.com/MidlandsClayArts).

The Rock Hill Pottery Center in Rock Hill, SC, is hosting our 5th Annual Holiday Sale from Nov. 23 – Dec. 3, 2012. Everything from functional dinnerware to decorative vases will be available for sale, just in time for the holiday gift giving season. Selected items are 20% off.

Our pottery is handcrafted by skilled artists in our studios at the Gettys Art Center, 201 E. Main Street in Rock Hill. Convenient parking is in the rear of building. Enter from the loading dock entrance.

Hours are 10am – 4pm.

For further info contact Bob Hasselle at 803/370-8109, or Christine White at 803/327-1294.